


Make You Mine

by noodlerdoodler



Category: Sally Face (Video Games)
Genre: Autistic Todd Morrison, Canon Compliant, Canon Gay Relationship, Domestic Fluff, Engagement, Foreshadowing, M/M, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 17:45:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17430566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noodlerdoodler/pseuds/noodlerdoodler
Summary: "Put your hand in mine,You know that I want to be with you all the time,You know that I won't stop until I make you mine,You know that I won't stop until I make you mine,Until I make you mine."





	Make You Mine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [burnsiesx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/burnsiesx/gifts).



If somebody were to look at Todd, they probably wouldn’t guess he’s a good cook. 

He’s all about math and calculations- he seems too mathematical to be good at something like cooking. It seems like something he would overcomplicate and screw up but it isn’t. He reasons that cooking really isn’t that different to science, following a formula, and besides, if he hadn’t learned to cook, he probably would’ve gone hungry living with his well-intentioned but forgetful parents. All points aside, Todd really is a good cook. Which is fortunate for them as the extent of Neil’s cookery knowledge is how to turn on the coffee machine. 

“I love it when you cook for me,” Neil tells him, twirling spaghetti around his fork. 

It’s a typical Monday night for them. Through the kitchen window, Neil can see the sun beginning to dip behind the hills in the distance. Todd didn’t have class in the afternoon, so he had time to tinker with his latest piece of ghost hunting tech and go to the supermarket to pick up groceries. He was already in the process of cooking when Neil got home from his shift at work and much to Todd’s annoyance, Neil proved himself to be very distracting. The spaghetti nearly boiled over but Todd caught it just in time.

Sal is out at Addison Apartments, God only knows how long for. His visits there can vary between an hour and several days, depending on when Larry finally reminds him that Sal doesn’t actually live there anymore. While he’s out, Neil lit a few candles to contribute to the atmosphere. Hot wax rolls down the one occupying the middle of the table, pooling in the dish it sits in. They often have dinner dates in their apartment since, as mentioned prior, Todd is a better cook than one in any nearby restaurants or diners. 

At the table, Neil can barely break his gaze away from Todd. They haven’t sat down together in a week or so, since Todd’s been busy with school and Neil has been working extra shifts. It’s nice to actually be able to stop and enjoy Todd’s company. While the honeymoon period of their relationship might’ve ended years ago, Neil still seems to fall in love with Todd all over again every few days. Even if his hair needs a trim and his face needs a shave. When you’re in love, those things don’t seem to matter so much. 

Todd, who perhaps isn’t the best at picking up romantic cues, frowns, “I cook for you everyday, Neil, except on Fridays when we order in.”

“I know but I feel like I don’t tell you often enough how lucky I am to have you.”

“Because of my cooking?”

“Because of your everything,” Neil reaches across the table and rests his hand on top of Todd’s, squeezing it loosely, “Sometimes I think I’m the luckiest man alive.” 

In many ways, Neil really is lucky. Most people don’t truly fall in love until they’re in their 30s or 40s, if the sitcom reruns playing on TV are to be believed. Most of his friends are dating new people every few months, unable to find somebody that sticks, still looking for somebody that will be The One. Neil is lucky because he saw his soulmate through the crowded hallway when he was sixteen years old. The love of his life stumbled blindly into him in high school, (literally, Travis had snatched his glasses), and they never looked back. Nowadays, it’s hard to remember a time where him and Todd weren’t in love. It seems like forever.

Todd’s face is turning pink behind his glasses, “I think that’s statistically unlikely.”

But he’s grinning. He turns his hand over so that Neil can hold it properly across the table.

His hand is warm and dotted with light-coloured freckles, just like his face usually is during the summer. Little sunkisses, Neil called them once, and Todd flushed so red they weren’t sure his face would ever return to its usual colour. Without sounding creepy, he knows his boyfriend’s hand better than he knows his own; he thoughtfully traces his finger over the dent in Todd’s index finger where Mrs Gibson’s rabbit nipped him when he was eleven and over the dark freckle on his thumb. He knows everything about Todd, could easily pick him out of a crowd blindfolded, and he guesses that’s why seeing Todd always feels faintly like coming home. 

“If you were the luckiest man alive, I think we’d be able to afford a new toaster,” Todd muses. 

That makes Neil laugh.

The last toaster is still charred and they can’t risk plugging it in, for risk of electric shock, as a result of Neil’s most recent cooking attempt. When Larry last came over, he wouldn’t accept that it was cereal or nothing for breakfast and attempted to cook his toast using a lighter. The kitchen table still has scorch marks.

Neil shrugs, “There are more important things than money, eg my wonderful fiance.” 

Todd’s face has turned an outrageously bright shade of pink, flushed with emotion. 

When Neil releases his hand, stacks the dishes, and moves past him to go to the sink, Todd catches him by the sleeve of his sweater and pulls him in. Pulls him back. Neil is forced to place the dishes on the table or risk dropping them as Todd draws him into a long kiss. He tastes a lot like garlic and spaghetti but Neil doesn’t mind. There isn’t much room for him on Todd’s lap but somehow they make it work because they always find a way to make things work. You don’t get to the point in their relationship without several years of hard work. Neil wraps his arms around Todd’s waist and leans into him. 

Something about being intimate with Todd has always been comfortable for him. When they first started dating in high school, Neil felt safe whenever their hands were locked together. It had never been like that with anyone else before- though, admittedly, he hadn’t dated many other people. Even now, he always likes to wrap his arms around Todd from behind and press his face into his shoulder. Neil feels happiest when he’s close to him, something comforting about the proximity between them. 

To Neil’s disappointment, they’re interrupted by somebody coughing pointedly in the doorway. Sal. He must’ve just got back and he’s standing there with (as usual) no expression on his mask, (it makes him tremendously difficult to read, Neil has no idea what face he could be pulling under there). He must want something or else he would’ve just left them to it. Slowly, Neil unwraps himself from around Todd’s neck. 

Sal didn’t always live with them. After Todd graduated, (he was valedictorian, of course), (and of course Neil had been there to applaud him furiously), the two of them (Todd and Neil, that is) had started talking seriously about living together. When you’ve been together for three years, making those kind of decisions just seem to make sense. They come easily. It was impossible to imagine a future where it wasn’t the two of them. 

After years of their parents being in the middle of them, finally, it could just be the two of them. Living together, like they’d wanted for years. Todd would be the first thing Neil saw when he woke up in the morning and the last thing he saw before he fell asleep- it seemed like a dream. They used to fantasise about living together someday, back when they were in high school, and sometimes Neil couldn’t believe that their dream had come true. Something that they used to talk about while lazing on the couch in Neil’s front room had become reality. 

It had been Neil’s idea for Sal to move in with them, after he started talking about finally getting away from the apartments (which he had lived in since he was fifteen years old) but having no success finding anywhere with low enough rent for a student. He didn’t see any problem with them living together. 

Sal had been one of Todd’s closest friends since he’d moved from New Jersey and although Neil didn’t know him anywhere near as well, he liked Sal and thought he was a good guy. Additionally, it would be easier for Sal and Todd to work on their secret conspiracy projects if Todd didn’t have to keep going over to the apartments every five minutes. Instead, they’d moved all their stuff into the shed. It just made sense for the three of them to live together- even if it did result in slightly awkward moments like this on occasion. 

“Are you ready to go, Todd?” Sal asks and for the first time, Neil realises that he’s neglected to take his jacket off or even close the door, as if he’s intending to walk right back out. 

Neil is sure that Sal just got back from Addison Apartments but he knows by now that Sal has a tendency to wander all over the place, inspecting everything and constantly double-checking things. It’s not unusual for him to go back and forth between the same places. He had probably been waiting for Todd to finish dinner so that they could investigate at the apartments together, dropping by to pick him up before going back. Todd must’ve forgotten to tell Neil that he was going out- he thought they’d have the whole evening together. 

“You’re going out?” Neil can’t help being disappointed as he stands up so that Todd can get up and slip his jacket on. He already misses the warmth of Todd pressed against him. 

“Didn’t I tell you?” Todd looks upset to be separated from him so abruptly too, “Sorry, Neil. I must’ve forgotten. Things have just been so busy with school lately-”

“Don’t worry about it,” Neil assures him quickly, unable to resist sliding his arms around Todd’s waist, “We’ve got forever, remember? What’s one night apart?” 

“I’ll see you when I get back tonight,” Todd leans back to kiss him, just long enough that Sal looks away, “Don’t wait up, we might be late back.” 

As they head out, Neil trails after them to the door and watches them step off the porch in total sync. 

He knows better than to ask to go with them by now. For years, he pleaded that he should be allowed to come. If this ghost thing was going to be such a huge part of Todd’s life, then it should be a part of Neil’s life too- at least a little bit. It used to hurt so much that Todd didn’t want him with them. Didn’t he trust him? He wasn’t sure why they got to risk their lives while he was at home drinking coffee. It was only one day when Todd came home with a gash on his leg, the result of some ghost hunting no doubt, that he broke down and sobbed to Neil that he just wanted to keep him safe. That it was better for him to not be involved. That, as soon as he knew anything about the apartments, he would be in danger. Neil stopped asking to come after that. 

He also found out later, (from Larry), that Todd had cut his knee because he had tripped over an untied shoelace and tumbled down the stairs. Neil might not know a lot about the supernatural but he was _preeetty_ sure he knew about the dangers of stairs. 

Besides, the dynamic between Neil and others was different to the bond they had with Todd. He hadn’t been involved in all the adventures when they lived in Addison Apartments. He had been too busy with math homework and soccer practice to get caught up in anything supernatural, leaving that to his boyfriend. So, instead, he just tells Todd to stay safe and that he’ll see him later. 

“See you, Neil,” Sal offers a half-wave as they walk away. 

“Later, Sally Face,” Neil replies, only closing the door once the two of them fade into distant shadows. 

Although the ghost hunting has been less and less necessary recently, it’s not uncommon for Neil to spend some evenings alone. It sounds lonely or bitter when he puts it like that but really he’s okay with it. They both have busy lives, often missing each other during the day as they go in and out of the house, but they manage to make time for each other. They always manage to make it work. Furthermore, Todd has promised he’s going to put the ghost hunting completely on hold once they start planning the wedding. 

“They’ll be able to cope without me for a few weeks,” He promised, as they trawled around a jewellery store in the centre of a city, “This is more important than Addison Apartments.” 

They hadn’t picked out any rings yet because they wanted to pick them out together, rather than keeping it a big secret. Neil couldn’t understand why most couples would choose the rings alone when they could do it together, although he was starting to understand why these kinds of decisions took a long time. Him and Todd were picky about what they wanted. 

Their engagement had been spur of the moment but it seemed right- it seemed like it was time. They’d been together seven years already and Neil was sure that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Todd. Neil had ended up blurting it out nervously one night, after he had managed to successfully cook one of Todd’s favourite meals, (okay, so he’d had a little help from Sal), and they hadn’t looked back. Todd being Todd had been incredibly logistical about the whole thing, making lists and plans and calculating costs. They were well on their way towards their wedding. Now, if only they could get round to telling their friends. 

It was a difficult thing to slip into conversation (Todd didn’t want everyone to make a big deal of it, attention made him sweat) and the longer they left it, the harder it got…

“That’s wonderful!” Neil’s parents had been enthusiastic about the whole thing and had insisted on hugging Todd, who stiffened in fear. They had known Todd since high school and although they’d found him blunt and difficult to talk to initially, it hadn’t taken long for him to grow on them. Todd has a tendency to make poor first impressions, especially since it takes him a while to warm up and start talking. After he’d been smothered in a hug, they’d been coerced into letting Neil’s parents take a picture of them smiling like idiots. That picture had lived in Neil’s wallet ever since, next to the faded one of them from high school. 

Todd’s parents on the other hand… Neil had never even met them. 

“But I want to meet them,” Neil had insisted back in high school, “Why can’t I? Aren’t they okay with the gay thing?” 

Todd had been working at his computer but then he had sighed and pushed his chair back to look at Neil, “No, they’re fine with that. They love it, actually. Very… ‘free-spirited’ apparently. They’re just… Weird.”

He swung his chair slowly from left to right, right to left, left to right, with a frown creasing his forehead. Something about Todd’s parents always made him tense up, even though everything Larry had told him about them seemed perfectly normal, if a little eccentric. Neil already knew that Todd’s parents were hippies, since their entire apartment stunk of weed at all times and all the food in their fridge was organically sourced, vegan, and gluten free. Todd’s parents clearly loved him to bits; it was obvious from the pictures of him that were hung up in their front room to the money they were willing to blow on the latest tech he wanted. But Todd just didn’t seem to click with them, like they were just people that lived together rather than a family. He didn’t talk about them much, to the extent that it was easy to forget he had parents at all. 

“I like weird,” Neil smiled at him, reassuringly. 

Todd shook his head, spinning all the way around on his chair, “Look, you just don’t get it. Neil, they don’t… They’re not bad people but I just… It’s just better if they don’t know about you, they’ll make a big deal out of it. I don’t know. They’ll be weird about it. You just… you don’t get it.” 

“You’re right, I don’t get it,” Neil hesitated, “Are you ashamed of me or something?”

Todd stood up, crying out in frustration, “I’m not ashamed of you, I’m ashamed of them!”

He had stormed out of his own room, leaving Neil sitting on the bed in shock. It had been the first time they’d ever fought. Prior to that, he hadn’t even heard Todd raise his voice, let alone shout like that. Since then, they hadn’t fought very often over the last seven years but when they did, it was nearly always about Todd’s parents. He was insistent that they were no longer a part of his life, not having stepped foot in their apartment since he’d left, while Neil pleaded they should at least tell them about the engagement. 

Just as he’s closing the front door, a glint of light bouncing off something on the porch catches his eye and Neil steps outside to take a closer look. Sal’s cellphone is lying abandoned on the porch, unharmed which means he can’t have dropped it. Quickly, Neil realises that he must’ve been waiting out here so he didn’t interrupt their dinner and he feels guilty. He tucks the cellphone in his pocket and heads back inside. 

After Todd and Sal leave, it’s too quiet in the house. He clears up the remnants of dinner. 

He tries to keep himself busy because he knows he’ll worry otherwise. He flips idly through the TV channels for a while, settling on a re-run of a movie that came out while he was in high school. Rationally, he knows he shouldn’t worry. Todd and Sal deal with supernatural stuff all the time and they almost never come to any harm, unless there are any rogue shoelaces to trip them. But he can’t help worrying just a little. He always does. 

He noticed that lately he’s been worrying more than usual, as if something bad could happen any minute- he puzzles over whether he should see a therapist about that but he thinks if he lies down on a shrink’s couch and starts telling them about ghost hunting, he’ll be hauled off to an institution. He can’t help shivering at the thought; when he was a kid, his uncle was institutionalised for a while and Neil had hated going to visit with his parents. He knows those places help people but something about the whole atmosphere felt claustrophobic, like the air was being squeezed out of his lungs. Neil’s happy to never step foot in a place like that again. 

Somehow, Neil must’ve fallen asleep because the next thing he knows, he’s being gently shaken awake. 

“I told you not to wait up,” A voice scolds him gently. A pair of warm hands coax him off the couch and blearily he opens his eyes to find himself wrapped around Todd again. He leans into his neck, breathing in the familiar scent of cotton and strawberry, and finds himself being lead away from the couch in the direction of the stairs. More than anything he wants to crawl into bed and wrap his arms around Todd. 

“Night, Sal,” Todd whispers as they pass in the hallway and Sal mutters something in reply, closing his bedroom door behind him. 

As they start up the stairs, Neil manages to mumble sleepily, “How did it go?”

“All fine. Almost too quiet actually,” He replies, “Sal’s really worried because his ghost friend hasn’t been making an appearance lately, no matter what he tries.”

“Megan?” Neil recalls, since he’s heard her mentioned in passing before, and he earns a nod for his efforts, “Maybe she’s passed on. Maybe she’s at peace now.” 

“Maybe,” Though Todd sounds unconvinced.

When they reach the top of the stairs, Todd pulls him in by his sweater and kisses him furiously, pressed up against the wall. Taken aback, Neil kisses him back eagerly but sloppily, well aware he’s probably too half-asleep to do his best work right now. Desperately, Todd clings to him and for the first time, Neil wonders if maybe things weren’t as fine as he claims. His heart skips in his chest, wondering if something bad might’ve happened. Before he can ask, Todd answers for him, breaking his lips away from him. 

“I called you to check if you were okay but you didn’t answer,” He says, rapidly, and he seems embarrassed, “I knew I was being paranoid but I was worried anyway,” His glasses have been knocked askew during the kissing, “I thought something might’ve happened.”

Neil finds his voice again, gently placing his hands on Todd’s shoulders to assure him that he’s really here and nothing’s wrong, “Hey, hey, hey. It’s okay. I’m okay.”

“I know, that’s why it’s stupid,” Todd sniffs, “Rationally, I knew you were fine. Statistically, there was a small chance that anything even remotely dangerous could’ve happened to you. But I was scared anyway.”

“It’s not stupid,” Neil says, well aware that he often feels the same way, “It just sounds like you’re having some anxiety, which is understandable given the stuff you’re mixed up in,” He reaches up and tucks a loose curl back behind Todd’s ear, “It’s nothing to be ashamed of.” 

There’s a long pause as the two of them look at each other. Todd seems to be studying Neil with a great intensity but as Neil quickly learned when they started going out, that’s just Todd’s equivalent of eye contact. He can’t look anybody in the eye so he looks everywhere else for answers. 

“I…” Todd hesitates, “I don’t know why but I’ve just felt really odd lately. As if something’s about to go wrong.”

He kisses him once more, as if for luck, and then heads towards the bed, still frowning. Neil follows him, watching him strip down with the kind of appreciation most people save for looking at art, and sleepily props himself against the desk. He’s still half-asleep so it takes him a minute to process what Todd just said. When he does, something clicks into place in his brain. It can’t be a coincidence that both of them feel a sense of looming doom. And he thinks he gets it. 

Of course they both feel anxious when there’s about to be such a big upheaval in their lives. Getting married feels like the natural next step, so neither of them put much thought into it, but it’s not surprising that both of them feel nervous, like it’s not going to work out. 

“I feel it too,” Neil says, finally, and Todd stops to look at him, “The feeling. Like something is going to go wrong. I think it’s because of the engagement.”

Relief, then fear, washes over Todd’s face, “Do you think we shouldn’t get married?”

Neil realises his mistake and shakes his head, moving to sit on the edge of the bed, “No, that’s not what I mean. God, of course not, Todd,” He rubs his eyes and grins at him, “There’s nothing more I want then to spend the rest of my life with you. I just think we’re both a bit jittery because this is going to be a big step for us. Like when we moved in together. You had anxiety then too. Remember how stressed you got about what kind of cups we were going to have?”

Todd laughs and joins him on the edge of the bed in his underwear, “Perhaps you’re right.”

“But we’ll work it out. This marriage thing. Together.” Neil promises him, squeezing Todd’s hand.

“We’ll work it out,” Todd repeats, nodding. 

Neil undresses and he crawls into bed beside Todd, wrapping his arms around him. There’s the usual whine from Todd, who claims that Neil is always too cold to cuddle with properly, but he does it more out of tradition than actual protest at this point. They’ve slept like this, curled around each other, for almost as long as they’ve been together. Back in high school, they practically lived at each other’s houses with Todd quickly becoming adept at climbing silently through Neil’s bedroom window after his parents went to bed and sliding into his bed. He claimed that he slept better there than he did at home and his parents never noticed he was gone. Todd would sneak out in the mornings and they’d meet up an hour later to walk to school. 

In hindsight, Neil doesn’t think his parents would’ve minded much if he knew Todd stayed over a lot, especially after the first few months or so. But he guesses part of what made it romantic was that it was secret, just between them. Like the smiles they exchanged when they walked down the corridor together, swinging their hands. Like the picture of them that Todd kept tacked up inside his locker for all four years of high school. 

Neil presses his face into Todd’s shoulder, “I love you.” 

“I love you too,” Todd mumbles into his pillow, “Everything’s going to be okay, isn’t it?”

“Definitely, don’t even worry about it,” Neil closes his eyes.

Todd falls asleep first and it’s obvious because he snores. Not loudly, but softly, muffled by the fact that he’s buried himself in the covers to shield himself from Neil’s supposed coldness. For a while afterwards, Neil lies with him and just enjoys being close with him. Even though things aren’t perfect, he doesn’t think he’s been happier in his entire life. And things are only going to get better. Slowly, he drifts off to sleep. 

His sleep is peaceful and dreamless, like he’s floating away, and when the alarm forces him to wake up, he groans and closes his eyes again. Beside him, Todd gently removes himself from his grip, even though Neil sleepily tries to pull him back into bed. 

“I’ve got class today,” Todd laughs, quietly, and Neil hears the sound of him opening the wardrobe to look for something to wear, “I’ll see you when I get back.”

“You could skip,” Neil tries, rolling into the warm and cozy space in the bed that Todd has left.

He practically hears Todd’s eyes roll at his suggestion, as he’s never missed a day of school in his entire life. Even when he had flu sophomore year, he insisted on going anyway and ended up getting half the school sick. And last year, when he fractured his wrist, he refused to stay in hospital because he had class in the morning.

Neil listens to the sound of Todd getting ready and then shuffling away, treading carefully down the stairs, and reluctantly forces his own eyes open. Even though he promised Todd everything would be fine, the feeling of dread is somehow worse today. He feels almost certain that if he gets out of bed, something is going to go wrong. It’s probably just his imagination playing up though and, he reasons as he slips out of bed, he’ll probably feel better once he’s had his morning coffee. Tracing Todd’s steps, he clambers out of bed and trails downstairs to shower before throwing on his usual outfit. Sal’s door is still closed; he must still be asleep. 

When he gets to the kitchen, a fresh pot of coffee is already brewed for him- Todd really is incredibly thoughtful in little ways- and he pours himself a cup as he looks out the window. He doesn’t remember seeing anything on the weather about a storm brewing yesterday but the sky looks dark and dismal outside, almost ominous. Something about it makes Neil shiver as he heads back upstairs.

Speaking of thoughtful, he finds a yellow post-it-note stuck on the desk reminding him that they’re going out tonight. They don’t usually go out, preferring to dine in, but Neil thought it would be a nice change of pace. Todd signed the note with a heart and an arrow indicating he should flip it over. _Let’s tell everyone about the wedding tomorrow. Ash is coming into town today, so we can tell them all at the same time_ , he’s written, which makes Neil smile. 

He tucks the note into his pocket when he hears footsteps on the stairs and a familiar shock of blue hair appears at the top of the stairs. It’s hard to tell but Sal seems troubled under his mask today. 

“Morning, Salio. What’s happening?” He says, taking a sip of his coffee. 

Sal sounds tireder than usual, “Hey Neil.”

“No pigtails today, huh?”


End file.
